Sylviebead Journal: The blah blah blah-og of Sylvie Elise Lansdowne
her artistic journey and studio life

Monday, August 27, 2012

an unfortunate butterfly

Hi all!!

I told you I was going to try to be better about blogging... so here I am.

What's been going on since last we spoke...

1. I went to Philadelphia for Bead Fest. It was a lot of fun and a little successful, which is a nice combo. I hadn't been to BeadFest since the very first year of its existence (2001 maybe?) and only went this time because I was offered a half of a shared booth space. My booth neighbor Maureen Henriques of Pumpkin Hill beads was a GREAT neighbor and she made being the "new girl" in town a lot easier. Thank you Maureen!!!

I sold a lot of stuff... and again, it was mostly glass, although kits sold too... glass was the thing. This leaves me wondering... is glass selling because that's what I'm excited about? Is glass selling because something is missing in the beadwork department at my table? Is the glass selling because it's just AMAZINGLY fun??? It's pretty fun, but I don't know about amazing. I really DO like the body of work I'm showing though.

2. I came home from Philly and went straight into production mode for the 2 1/2 crazy months ahead. I don't have a moment to breathe the next couple of months and I have to budget every little minute of studio time to get the things done that need to be done in order to be ready for the shows/classes that are coming up.... but things weren't as productive as I needed them to be. I really wanted to add butterflies to the garden stake line, but they were just NOT happening. They were pretty horrible looking.... like mutant butterflies from mars. Actually, not a lot WAS happening late in the week... I think I ruined half the stuff I made on Thursday or Friday... it was either ugly ugly ugly or cracked. It just wasn't meant to be.

I had a little bit of the blues remembering my friend, Keith and I think that maybe it effected work. He's been gone for a year now and it was his death that put me in the studio last year at this time, in shock, still having to work, but avoiding making the things I was supposed to be making... experimenting with making a cat bead based on a stuffed toy I'd seen.... crying while I tried to make anything.

The cat turned out horribly disturbed looking, but lead to this whole line of new fun bright things, which I've seen as a gift from him. I've reached for my phone on more than I'd like to admit, ready to tell him how a show went, or laugh with him about something I've seen.... or ready to answer an email with his constant question, "how's that unfortunate dog of yours?" When I originally told him I was getting a dog, he asked me what kind of dog. I told him I was getting a goldendoodle and then explained that it's a cross between a poodle and a golden retriever. His response, "that's quite an unfortunate combination" Once I got Cooper, he referred to him always as my "unfortunate dog" Cooper lived up to his name with antics like eating an entire box of 64 crayons and decorating my yard with rainbow poo and the name stuck.

So, that is the story of how the Unfortunate Pets got their names.... from a friend who made me laugh almost every day. He was my biggest cheerleader during the time I took off from doing art as a career (or even art at all). He pushed me constantly saying, "you need to be doing this. you need to get back in the studio." I'm thankful for that push and for the time he spent reminding me that I was FUN and silly and pretty dang cool even if sometimes, as he said, I'm a "sitcom waiting to happen." I miss him bunches, but I'm grateful for the gift of silliness that
spurred new and exciting work for me.

SO... now I need to kick it back into high gear and get ready for my shows. I've had 2 really good studio days in a row, so I'm hoping it's going to stay on that track! Pulling out a bouquet of glass that looked like this today made me energized and ready to rock the rest of this week!